Finances and Economics

October 17, 2018

There are some financial problems you need to beware of: the danger zones of personal finance. Specifically, there are ten things that are probably the most dangerous moments in someone’s financial life. Whenever you get near any of these ten things, stop, think about it, disengage your emotions, and engage your logic because all of these are thin ice.

Taxes – Make sure you get a good tax adviser because the tax code can be pretty complicated. Never break the law. Never skate the edge. But make sure you understand the tax laws so you don’t waste a bunch of money that you’re not required to pay.

Home Ownership – We have been taught that homes are great to own. Maybe that is true for some people in the right circumstances, but being a homeowner is one of the most expensive things you will ever do. Not only is the upkeep a significant expense, but property taxes and insurance are very costly. In societies with weak or struggling economies, increased property taxes will be one way that cities, municipalities, and other local governments attempt to stay afloat. And despite popular myths, homes do not always go up in value. This was the big idea that got popped during the last housing bubble. Many people have found themselves upside down on their homes, meaning they owe more than the home is now worth. This is a bad place to be. It is not our advice to own a home, or to avoid owning a home, but rather to be very wise. Do not make the mistake of seeing your home as a major investment, and think through the financial ramifications before you buy.

Divorce – Don’t divorce him! Don’t divorce her! Work it out! If you don’t, it is going to cost a lot of money. Of course, you need to do what is right for you and your family. Our point is simply that this can be a very dangerous financial move, so think it through from all angles. It might be the most expensive thing you ever do.

Credit Cards – Many people need to stay away from credit cards. We discussed this earlier in the book, several times in fact, but if you have not yet followed our advice, then (for crying out loud) put the plastic back in the wallet. Cut them up. Get rid of the things. Freeze them. Lock them up. Just stop using them. Credit cards are fine for people who have proven their ability to be disciplined with their finances. But for those with challenges in this regard, this warning is properly aimed.

Lawsuits – They are very expensive, and they can distract from your work, business, family, and other important facets of life. If you are living the principles of financial fitness, you will have the best and only real preparation for lawsuits: savings and financial discipline. Avoid lawsuits whenever possible, and never look at them as a way to gain something financially.

Uninsured Accidents and Sickness – Look, we know this is a tough world. But we have literally seen people cancel their health insurance because they “can’t afford it.” Yet they have tons of credit card debt, a flat screen TV, recreational vehicles, fancy cars, boats, etc. Get yourself some insurance. Sell some stuff. Walk around in a barrel in you have to! Get insured, even if it is just major medical insurance that kicks in if you have a big emergency. Protect yourself and your finances. Too much insurance is a waste and too little is a risk. Avoid both extremes. It is wise for people to look into getting the following kinds of insurance: home/rental, car, major medical, life, disability, long-term care, and identity theft protection. Also look into what insurance is needed for your kind of business. Protect your assets.

Status Living – Having to keep up with the Joneses (or the Zhangs, as they increasingly say in China) can really kill your financial fitness. If you haven’t noticed, the Joneses are probably broke. Following their example is bad for your finances. Actually, to tell the truth, the Zhangs are spending only a little and saving a lot. Keeping up with the Zhangs, and not the Joneses, is a really good idea. To repeat what we already said: Stop buying things you don’t need with money you don’t have to impress people you don’t even like.

College Education – We use the word “education” kind of lightly, depending on what college and where you go. College has become ridiculously expensive, partly because of all the scholarships given out, but mostly because of the ease with which kids can get government loans. This tends to drive the whole market price up. Be very careful that you get what you pay for. Take some time to think it through before you plunk down all that hard-earned money on a college just for reputation. Turn on your analytical brain, and treat it like an investment. Either make sure you (or your kids) get trained in something that will really bring the return you want, or focus more on getting a great education and less on getting a degree. To be clear, we think you should get a truly excellent education. This is one of the most important investments you will ever make. We just don’t believe this happens in college as often or as well as many people expect it to. If you do choose college, be sure you get the education you really want—or go and find it elsewhere. Note that the costs of college rise about 8% annually, while statistics show that the cost of a college education isn’t a very good investment anymore. A large percentage of people never work in the field of their degree, but they leave school with thousands of dollars in student loans. Ironically, as schools focus increasingly on narrow job training instead of broad education, people are getting less in the way of education and also using their expensive degrees less after graduation. For example, 85% of people who graduated from college in 2011 were unable to find a job and moved back in with their parents. Even more stayed away but still could not find good employment. It is increasingly common to find people with prestigious college degrees working in menial or fast-food jobs. Peter Thiel, the billionaire co-founder of PayPal, recently offered a number of $100,000 grants to students who were willing to drop out of college and start a business. Many top leaders are increasingly seeing college as a waste of time. As college becomes more expensive and less valuable, we expect to see more such alternatives that work for people better than college. Again, if you do go to college, focus on your education— not the conveyor belt requirements of the system.

Addictions – Very often when we talk to people and they have some serious holes in their finances, we find out there is some type of addiction behind the scenes. Fight those off. Get professional help. Get treatment. As tragic as these things are personally and to the family, they are also just as bad financially. Clean up your life.

Investments – The rule on investing is “buyer beware.” If those seeking your investment need your money, they do not qualify for it. If you don’t retain 100% control of your money, you are going to lose a whole lot of it; we promise. We have learned this through sad experience. The best investments are found on the YOU, Inc. Investment Hierarchy. About 95% of North Americans should not be in Kiyosaki’s “I” quadrant, which is investors only. Most should be in the “B” (business owner) quadrant. Those who try to become investors too soon are usually trying to invest like millionaires while earning like the middle class. This is the opposite of the real goal, as discussed earlier: to earn like a millionaire and live like the middle class. Also, amateur investors generally get slaughtered by the professionals.

Be very, very careful as you make decisions about the danger zones: taxes, home ownership, divorce, credit cards, lawsuits, insurance, seeking status, college, addictions, and investments. Get good advice from your financial mentors, and study things in detail before taking action.

As you become financially fit, do your best to avoid the financial danger zones, and be extremely careful as you make decisions when they do present themselves.

January 05, 2017

Chris Brady and Orrin Woodward went above and beyond the call of duty when they created the Beyond Financial Fitness Program. With decades of experience building businesses, investing, managing personal finances, developing security and prosperity for their families, and mentoring others to do the same, it’s safe to say that Brady and Woodward have the credibility and experience to teach people about the complex subject of money and wealth creation.

The original Financial Fitness book and program introduced the three-part concept of the Offense, Defense, and Playing Field of personal finance, with an emphasis on eliminating consumer debt and taking basic steps toward saving. Now, the long-anticipated Beyond Financial Fitness builds on that platform by teaching how to maximize the potential of your various streams of income by properly accumulating an ever-growing portfolio of cash-flow-producing assets. Learn what money is truly for, how your greatest investment will always be yourself, how to organize your money flow into a hierarchy of assets, and how to get the power of compounding to work in your favor. Understand the Risk Factors working against you and how the “money game” is rigged in ways that are not in your favor. Finally, learn how to protect your gains while growing your financial security for the long term.

Drawn from many of the greatest minds in the history of personal finance, Beyond Financial Fitness teaches you to gain mastery over your money once and for all through:

A Comprehensive Financial Plan:

How you will earn

How you will save

How you will spend

How you will borrow

How you will invest your money

An Investment Policy:

How to spell out your approach to investing

How to turn your efforts into assets

How to recognize risk factors working against you

An Asset Allocation Plan:

How much money to keep in different investment categories

How to understand the risks of assets relative to each other

How to diversify and allocate your assets

The program is available in both physical and digital formats and includes the Beyond Financial Fitness book and comprehensive workbook, an audio version of the book and several single audios, two DVD's, and a bookmark and decal.

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You’ve worked enough for money – now it’s time to get it working for you!

The information presented on this blog and in any of its videos is for general educational purposes only, and provides information the authors believe to be accurate on the subject matter covered. It is presented here with the understanding that neither the authors nor the publisher are providing advice for any particular portfolio or for any individual's particular situation, or rendering investment advice or other professional services such as legal or accounting advice. If expert advice in areas that include investment, legal, and accounting are needed, please seek a competent professional's services.

This publication may make reference to performance data collected over various periods of time. Remember that past results do not guarantee future performance. Performance data, as well as laws and regulations, change over time, which could affect the applicability of the information presented on this blog and its videos. Any data presented herein is used merely to illustrate the underlying principles.

This blog and its videos are not to serve as the basis for any financial decision or as a recommendation of any specific investment.

No warranty is made with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained herein, and both the authors and the publisher specifically disclaim any responsibility for any liability, loss, or risk, personal or otherwise, which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this blog and its videos.

April 17, 2015

In essence, this is the message of NY Times best selling author Orrin Woodward's latest book (to be released this month), entitled The Financial Matrix.

Cleverly relating today's complicated financial environment to the popular 1999 smash hit movie The Matrix, Orrin Woodward draws upon deep scholarship to simplify a complicated picture, showing how the great masses of people have throughout history been ensnared in powerful webs of control.

The first scam or "Matrix" of control was slavery. This is the instance in which the powerful aristocracy simply (and horribly) "owned" another human being and therefore captured 100% of that person's output for themselves.

After slavery came the scam or "Matrix" of feudalism, in which the powerful aristocracy owned the land and therefore captured a large part of the production from the other person's working of that land.

Today, slavery and feudalism have thankfully receded, but in their place (and this is the key premise of Orrin Woodward's book) is a complicated, nearly invisible system of control every bit as diabolical as its two predecessors. He calls it the Financial Matrix.

I won't spoil the mystery for you, but take a look at some of the statistic pulled from the pages of this captivating publication:

1. The average American in 2014 is more than $225,000 in debt.

2. Average credit card debt among indebted households: $15,263 at an average interest rate of 14.95% APR.

3. Only 59 percent of Americans have at least $500 in a savings account.

4. Household income in America has dropped nearly 8% since its 1999 peak of $56,895.

Shockingly, these results are not accidental, nor, as some pundits would proclaim, are they merely the result of "stupid Americans over-consuming." As Orrin Woodwarddevelops in his book, the condition of the average person's finances is actually the direct result of a financial system designed to feed off the unsuspecting. Fiat money, fractional reserve banking, and other mechanisms work behind the scenes to entrap those who don't realize the dangers of consumer debt.

The information presented on this blog and in any of its videos is for general educational purposes only, and provides information the authors believe to be accurate on the subject matter covered. It is presented here with the understanding that neither the authors nor the publisher are providing advice for any particular portfolio or for any individual's particular situation, or rendering investment advice or other professional services such as legal or accounting advice. If expert advice in areas that include investment, legal, and accounting are needed, please seek a competent professional's services.

This publication may make reference to performance data collected over various periods of time. Remember that past results do not guarantee future performance. Performance data, as well as laws and regulations, change over time, which could affect the applicability of the information presented on this blog and its videos. Any data presented herein is used merely to illustrate the underlying principles.

This blog and its videos are not to serve as the basis for any financial decision or as a recommendation of any specific investment.

No warranty is made with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained herein, and both the authors and the publisher specifically disclaim any responsibility for any liability, loss, or risk, personal or otherwise, which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this blog and its videos.

October 17, 2012

This bad economy is really poorly timed, mostly because it's happening right while we're alive to experience it.

We've come out of a credit binge where easy money was available at low interest rates. This drove up a false housing market and now that the bubble has popped, millions are "upside down" in their homes (meaning they owe more than they're worth on the open market). Jobs have dried up, income has gone down, and the bills (and the interest they carry) left over from the heady days of the boom are not so much fun now that we're in the bust. Retirement savings are greatly diminished, and people are being forced to work longer than they had planned. While all this makes for some nauseating blame-games at the political level, at the practical level where real people live it's a joy stealer.

Add to all this a materialistic culture
that relentlessly sells us on the lie that more stuff will equal more
happiness. If we could only have that latest gismo, buy the bigger house, drive
the fancier car, watch that latest flat screen tv, play the newest video game,
and wear sophisticated clothes, our lives would be more fulfilled and happy.

The biggest reason we believe a lie is because somewhere, deep down inside, we want it to be true.

We actually like material possessions and the latest shiny objects. We would dearly love to believe that they bring fulfillment and happiness. What could be easier? We fall for the lure of pleasure as happiness and pile on the purchases, rarely stopping to wonder why real fulfillment eludes us like the edge of a fog in a morning field.

But here is one thing I've learned: it's hard to be less than happy when you can be happy with less.

I'm no minimalist. I am blessed beyond description and have nice material possessions myself. But I have come to realize that I want to spend my money a little differently than I did when, to borrow a phrase from my father, I was "younger and dumber." After all, what is aging for if not to absorb a little wisdom? Something must accompany the gray hair and wrinkles. Therefore, I made a purposeful decision to spend more of my money on memories instead of on material.

Think about it. Does a new car or a trip with your family generate more special moments and lasting memories? How many memories do you really have of that item you just had to purchase (and likely therefore finance) eight or nine years ago? Yet how many moments with friends, family, and loved ones can you recall from throughout your life? Which do you value more?

Two and a half years into the experiment, here's what I've discovered since making the decision to prioritize memories over material:

1. Life is simpler and less cluttered.Material requires upkeep and attention. Memories are maintenance free.

3. Memories keep, while stuff wastes away. This is true of our affections, too. Some of my oldest memories are the dearest, while my oldest stuff is just junk.

4. More resources (time, attention, money, etc. ) are available for other (and usually more important) things. Giving and sharing are more fulfilling than buying for one's self.

5. It's easier to focus on one's purpose in life.Orrin Woodward has a fantastic way of looking at this in his latest book, Resolved Primer, page 18, where he suggests that our Purpose is shown to be at the intersection of our Potential, our Passion, and our Profits (or fruitfulness).

6. Life is more stress-free (and therefore fun) when living well below one's means.

7. Money diminishes in importance in your life (and thereby occupies less of your thoughts) when you aren't demanding so much of it.

8. Happiness exists more in little things than in big things, anyway.

How has this economy changed your thoughts about money?

Where do memories rank in your heirarchy of priorities?

What changes can you make today to decrease your material consumption and increase your memory generation?

February 27, 2012

In today's political environment there seems to be two sides: 1) those who think the government can and should be in charge of solving our problems, and 2) those who think the government is evil and should be restrained. These are oversimplifications, to be sure, but I believe they at least come close to making a little sense of where people stand.

Each of these viewpoints can easily run to extremes. Those of the first viewpoint can readily get caught up in theories of government that, in the past, have led to totalitarian states, oppression, and state-sponsored genocide. Those of the second viewpoint tend to take the form of "founding father worship," a condition whereby we deify the men who gave us America's founding documents as though they were infallible.

It is with this second viewpoint I wish to take momentary umbrage. For, although I believe America's founding to be a spectacularly singular event in the history of freedom, I do believe the founders were fallible, fallen human beings like the rest of us.

I also believe they made at least one huge error.

Lemmesplain.

Yesterday evening I was out with my family. Somehow, the topic of the game of Monopoly came up. Recently, my two youngest children, six and eight years old, have been completely enamored with this game. And boy, are they good at it! In one knock-down-drag-out-winner-take-all match, my six year old son cleaned my clock and left me destitute, all the while subsidizing his sister, who was not in much better shape than myself. I marvelled at their mathematical skills, their grasping of the concept of mortgages, and the agility with which they would quickly become real-estate tycoons. In yesterday's discussion, it came up that in a game between just the two of them things had progressed so far that they actually broke the bank.

"What do you mean?" I asked, smelling a rat.

"We made sooooo much money the bank ran out," answered the six-year-old with pride.

"Yeah, so we made more," chimed the eight-year-old with a freckled grin.

"You did what?" I asked.

"We made more money."

"Just like that?"

"Yup. It was easy, actually."

Now I knew I was onto something, so I pressed further, asking, "Who gave you the authority to do it?"

They both shrugged their shoulders and answered, "We did."

"And why did you think it was ok to do?" I asked, going for the jugular.

"Because we were in charge of the game, silly!"

Out of the mouth of babes! You see, what my two cherubs had done was nothing more than the obvious - nothing more than governments have been prone to do any time and every time they find themselves in a similar jam, and, "being in charge of the game," who's to stop them?

The founding fathers put into documentary form many principles from the greatest minds of statehood from throughout history. They sought to chain the monster of government and make it subservient to the dictate of the people. Balances of powers, states' rights, a Bill of Rights, and the rule of law were enshrined in founding documents that began a great experiment in freedom unmatched in world history. However, they overlooked at least one enormous point: whoever controls the money controls the game. By assigning exclusive control of the money supply to the government alone, they dangled a carrot of irresistable size in front of the noses of power mongers and opportunists. It was only a matter of time before such a towering source of power would be abused. Without competition, due oversight, or powers of restraint provided to the people, the exclusive authority to control the money supply could eventually be the Achilles heel of the entire government.

Which brings us to today. Both sides of the political divide (the two viewpoints stated above) have found that once in office, the magic machine of money creation is easily at hand to enact their policies (no matter what their campaign rhetoric had been). The benefit is that the populace does not have to be asked, and no new taxes need be imposed. One political side promises more big government as the answer, and funds it with trillions of dollars created out of thin air. The other side yells and screams about the socialism of such programs, and then, once in office, reaches for the same easy-money spigot. The bottom line is this: when something as powerful as controlling the money supply is governed only by the false notion of self-restraint, there will be no restraint.

"What happened next?" I asked my young Federal Reserve Chairmen.

"We made more, why?"

"Oh, just wondering," I said.

"But Dad," interrupted the eight-year-old, sharp enough to see where I was heading, "It didn't cause prices to go up!"

I was so proud of her, for she remembered the lesson of inflation I had tried to teach them a couple years ago. But she was also missing another aspect of the game.

"That's because the rents are fixed," I answered. "They are printed on each card and cannot change. If they weren't fixed, they would go up every time you expand the money supply." (Don't even get me started on the evils of price-fixing! That's another monster altogether!)

"I know, I know, Dad," she said with a coy smile, "But it's just a game!"

She was right, of course, and Dad didn't feel like infringing any further upon childhood joy with real life economics. But when it comes to real life, it is not just a game.

So what could the founders have done differently?

The concept is called "privatized money," which involves allowing the people themselves to come up with, distribute, and regulate their own money supply based upon open competition. There would be several at a time, all vying for our usage based upon merit alone. No authoritative government would be handing us one single choice and forcing us to accept it as "legal tender," all the while affecting its value with its hands on the levers behind the curtain. Privatization would be like choosing amongst Visa, MasterCard, and American Express based upon who we thought had the most stable, reliable, well-known, and dependable money. Perhaps each would offer a backing and redemption in gold. It is not such a crazy idea. Deregulation and free markets have vastly improved such things as airlines, telephones, and even postal service (Federal Express, Airborne, and others have carved a nice niche in the space around the government's strange monopoly on mail). Privatized money has been done many times in spotty moments throughout history, at points where governments hadn't yet confiscated control. It worked. Usually it went from chaos to consolidation among a handful of worthy competitors, just like most industries.

We don't need to debate the details, however, because it's unlikely to ever happen. Those in charge of the game will never give it up. Instead, they've got to work to keep us playing along.

February 16, 2012

How we are doing financially has a lot to do with how we think, or the construct we've built up in our minds to interpret all things dealing with money. It's similar to a World View, which is a term that seeks to describe the lens through which one sees and experiences the world. In this short clip, I introduce the concept of a Money View.

January 04, 2012

"World View" is a term recently popularized by philosophers and media pundits who debate spiritual and political matters. It refers to the lens through which people see (and therefore interpret) the world around them. All information and observations must pass through this lens and be colored by one's World View.

Similarly, there is another "View" I would like to propose for consideration, and I'm calling this the "Money View." In my nearly two decades of dealing with people and their finances I have slowly awakened to the fact that how people are doing financially is often a direct result of their "Money View." Just as with World Views, there are several very different Money Views, each with its own ramifications. These include, but are probably not limited to, the following:

1. Money as a Mystery - in which people seem to have no clue how money is made (or retained) and therefore think that others who are successful financially are somehow "lucky"

2. Money as a Master - in which one's entire life is lived out in bondage to the need for more money, or at least the drudgery of scraping by. This is often accompanied by terms such as, "I have to go to work," or "Another day, another dollar."

3. Money as a Monster - this is the condition whereby financial pressures become so large they dominate a person's thoughts and affect him emotionally. Often at this stage relationships are damaged and health is compromised.

4. Money as a Major - in which a person applies most of his focus and fascination on how to acquire more. In this situation money is an idol.

5. Money as a Motivator - this is the condition whereby money is used to push one to higher achievement and greater contribution. This can be for both selfish or selfless reasons. Beware.

6. Money as a Manipulator - whereby a person uses his or her money to get what he or she wants out of other people. It is here where phrases such as "Money is Power" apply.

7. Money as a Minimizer - the condition in which the presence of money diminishes one's ambition. This is where complacency and mediocrity reside.

8. Money as a Maximizer - where one is driven to utilize his or her money to make a greater contribution and maximize his or her potential. This is usually much more selfless and altruistic than #5 above.

9. Money as a Monument - where money is used as a status symbol, to build a reputation, or as an attempt to establish an immortal family legacy.

10. Money as a Menace - wherein the money one has is a destructive force in one's life, either by feeding addictions or by causing fights or by dominating one's time and energy with the care and maintenance required to sustain it.

In considering this list, it may be helpful to ask yourself some questions, such as:

1. Which "Money View" best represents where you are right now?

2. Which of these "Money Views" have you encountered previoulsy in your life?

3. Notice that several of these "Money Views" are quite negative. What are you doing to make sure you are living under a positive and productive one? Which one would you choose?

4. What are you doing to grow in your financial understanding and education?

In each of the above views we see that money is always used as a Means. The key question in money matters is therefore, "As a means for what?" This is why the Bible again and again treats money as a heart issue. Money in itself is not evil, but the heart is desperately wicked, who can know it? Money becomes a dangerous or productive tool, depending upon the heart that wields it.

Make sure you choose your "Money View" deliberately and intentionally, don't simply let it choose you. Pursue some financial education to enable you to be in charge of money instead of it being in charge of you. And guard your heart when it comes to money, in plenty or in want.

February 11, 2011

'Get out and vote,' we are told; 'Be informed and get active,' and so we who value our freedom and love our country run like a pack of lemmings to a stage show draped in red, white, and blue. 'Hooray for our side,' they yell, 'All of our problems can be neatly packaged in a ten second soundbite and blamed on the other side,' we are repeatedly led to believe.

The inherent problem with our partisan political process is that the very essence of its structure imbibes a false assumption. We are invited to participate, but in order to do so we have to 'choose a side.' Then, having chosen, we are fed the long list of proper beliefs to substantiate why our side is so right and the other is so wrong.

But what if both sides are complicit in the problem, or perhaps less, what if they are both benign in their abilities to do anything about the real problems? What if neither side is totally right or wrong? What if the real problem lies above the stage show?

Freedom is the parent of some strange children, two of which are

1. blaming others, and

2. feeling guilty.

Whenever a problem gets bantered about in our national public discourse, it is usually one or both of these reactions that ensues. This is fueled by the structure of an 'our side against yours' national mindset.

For example, when gasoline prices skyrocketed a few years ago we heard from one side of the red-white-and-blue stage show that it was because Americans were wasteful and driving gas-guzzling SUVs. From the other side of the stage show we heard that those big, bad Chinese people were consuming more and more of OUR oil. There you have it, blame and guilt all wrapped up in the debate. So those feeling guilty run out and buy hybrid vehicles to assuage their pangs while others fight the urge to 'hate' an ethnic group that gets labelled as hyper-productive and stealing our jobs by being willing to work for peanuts (or, um, rice).

Closer scrutiny, however, reveals a different story. While China's growing economy (as well as those of other emergent nations) has increased the demand for oil, it is at best only one of the three main factors in the increase in oil prices, and it might be the least significant. What really occurred was a financial commodities bubble caused by a complicated set of games-playing in the commodities markets by banks operating with secret and unfair federal exemptions to bring investment money into a place it was never supposed to be.

Picture the commodities trading floor as a closed system in which producers of commodities (oil, wheat, corn, etc. the 'stuff' that everyday people need and can't do without) meet purchasers of commodities (like cereal companies, etc) to buy and sell with each other. A small amount of 'speculators' is allowed in so a 'ready market' is available at all times for both buyers and sellers (who therefore don't have to wait for each other to make a sale or purchase). This small amount of speculators is closely regulated by a federal law established in 1936. But over time six or seven very powerful investment banks obtain secret letters of exemption which allow them government-granted monopoly status to allow 'their investment customers' special access to those markets through their trading desks. This is exactly what happened, and as a result the money invested in commodity indices rose from just $13 billion in 2003 to over $317 billion in 2008 (twenty five times growth in less than five years). This amount of money pumped into a market that can only be 'played long' (meaning, money is made by the investors ONLY when prices go up, unlike securities where money can be made on 'both sides' of the market - going up OR down) had the effect of massively increasing the prices of commodities. Of course, these prices quickly find their way to the end customer, the little guy, who is paying more for everything and can't figure out why. What's really happening is the government has allowed a small number of granted monopoly banks to fleece him without his knowledge or consent.

That's just one of the scams being run.

Another (and thankfully it's getting much more coverage these days) is the willful, intentional, deliberate devaluation of the American dollar. While the government (through the workings of its private partner the FED) pumps trillions of worthless dollars into circulation (through the hands of many of the same banking interests given such special treatment in the commodities scam above) the dollars held by average Americans become worth less and less. So while the 'little guy' is getting creamed in the commodities market and the price of everything he buys is going higher and higher, the dollars he holds to buy those things is capable of purchasing less and less.

We could also dive into the housing bubble that has left millions of Americans 'upside down' in their home mortgages while bankrupting millions of others. That would represent scam #3, and again, it was perpetrated by many of the same characters from scam #1 and scam #2 above, but I won't go into the whole vicious circle of greed and government bailouts to fat-cat bankers with taxpayer money that makes this one so sickening, because this isn't a direct factor in the oil price scandal.

Only now, after these three revolving cons, can we even begin to discuss the growing Chinese market and its impact on oil prices. And only now can we even begin to consider the car we drive as having an effect on all this.

What has happened is the American public has been hi-jacked by a glitzy distraction called partisan politics in which blame and guilt are manipulated by the media to keep us split in a neat fifty-fifty feud. It doesn't hurt that moral issues are thrown in so that our convictions force us to lump everything together in what appear to be neat packages of "Donkey" or "Elephant." Meanwhile, the whole time we bicker and fight amongst ourselves, a bunch of cronies are robbing us blind.

I wonder what would happen if we rose above the partisan stage-show and united? What if we found common ground on all the things we could agree upon, such as freedom and justice for all, and turned our well-meaning but mis-guided furor upon the real thieves of the American dream?

February 11, 2010

Yes. You've probably heard it all before. Spend less than you make and make more than you spend. You've got it, already. Bought the tee-shrit.

But if it's that simple, why are so many people in financial trouble?

Over 20 million American citizens are now "upside down" in their home mortgages.

Credit card debt is higher than ever.

The private savings rate is below 1% (up from near zero a year ago!)

Aggregate US private debt is now above $3 Trillion! Measured differently, other stats show the figure to be above $13 Trillion!

This is a mess. And it has a root cause.

In the first event of a series of live-streaming Webinars, scheduled for Friday, February 26th, 2010 at 7:00pm EST, my friend and co-author Orrin Woodward and I are going to be addressing these issues head-on. The series is called the Personal Mastery Series, for reasons which will become obvious to all viewers, and the subject matter for the first episode is personal finances. The title of the event is, Launching a Personal Finance Revolution, and can be purchased in advance here.

The information we will present IS quite revolutionary, because it will explode most of the myths, misconceptions, and misrepresentations out there about money, its nature, and how financial goals should be considered. It is our belief that nearly everything most people have learned about money is at least a little bit off track, if not downright incorrect. Personal Mastery of proven principles, properly applied to the correct understanding and use of money, is the way out of the fog.

In this presentation, we will make no apologies to the icons of conventional wisdom, who, for the most part, are as silly as body-builders in pink tutus.

For instance, here is just a sample of some of the "financial heresies" we will be discussing:

Spending and credit are actually addictions for many

Net Worth as a financial goal is stupid

Inflationary environments encourage a certain type of behavior, but this behavior becomes unsustainable and exposes one to undue risk

Diversification as a sound strategy is at best a half-truth

"Experts" are usually not

The herd is wrong and about to get slaughtered

If these have gotten your attention, don't miss this inaugural event. Join us for some candid commentary on how you can gain personal mastery over money and Launch a Personal Finance Revolution in your life! See you there.

February 07, 2010

In our increasingly fast-paced digital world, it seems more and more thought is compressed into short little sound-bites. Lengthy, well-developed tracts are hardly read by a busy public. It is becoming more and more true that, if you want someone to read something, keep it short.

In that spirit, I guess, Twitter has taken off as a social networking device. I have personally enjoyed its interactivity and 140 character limit. If you would like to follow me on twitter, click here.

Someone recommended that I list some of my recent Tweets here as a summary. I hope you enjoy them! (And don't worry, I'll keep this list short!)

Government: the only place someone could get away with saying they're going to spend their way out of their spending problem.

Politician's prayer: Give me this day someone else's daily bread.

We are human beings, however, most of us only look like human doings.

You can tell a lot about a person by what it takes to make him/her mad.

Excellence is unwrapped by the hands of courage.

The annual US budget ought to say: "As much as we want." It would save paper, at least.

Never mistake gentility for character.

Most people don't really know what they want until they see someone else with it.

Life has no rewind, but it is being recorded.

They call it the human race, however, many people aren't even jogging in it.

Many people appear to be tip-toeing through life trying to get to death safely.